Nissan and Chrysler may build cars and trucks together

Posted by galardo Published in Chrysler, Nissan

John Neff
Chrysler, Nissan

Citing inside sources, Bloomberg reports today that Chrysler and Nissan are in talks to develop cars, trucks and engines together. Both companies happen to be the third largest automakers in their home market and both are used to collaborative efforts in car making. Chrysler is working with Volkswagen on minivans and Chinese automaker Chery on a small car, for instance, while Nissan-Renault continues to seek a partner in the U.S. after a proposed partnership with General Motors fell through. Chrysler and Nissan, however, are reportedly not considering acquiring any type of ownership in each other. The co-development would be limited to truck development for Nissan, small car development for Chrysler and joint development of new engines. Nissan is likely hoping that tapping into a U.S. automakers’ expertise on full-size trucks will lead to changes that make its Titan pickup more competitive. Chrysler, meanwhile, is still without a car smaller than the Caliber and could benefit from Nissan’s experience selling small cars in Japan and Europe. Again, the talks are private so neither company has confirmed they’re in discussions, but collaboration on this scale seems to becoming more common in the industry, especially for automakers that aren’t the biggest, but aren’t the smallest, either.